Chapter 4 – Tour

  “It would seem that humans are a sort of tempte for many of the infectious paranormal conditions. Were creatures, undead, vampires and others can all alter the base human in some way. We currently don’t know all the benefits or the down sides, but we are working on a list….” – Professor of human anatomy, University of Michigan

  “Oof, I should not have ordered such a big soda.” Val whined as they pulled into the driveway of Kurt’s home. She had been squirming in her seat for the past 10 minutes and refused all suggestions that they pull over somewhere.

  Finally, Kurt pulled up to the house that sat atop a gentle rise in a cleared-out portion of the property. He hopped out and went to unlock the door, barely getting out of the way as the kitsune scrambled past him. “First door on the right!” he called as she raced across the living room and into the hall. She had to double back after passing it but ended up finding the right door.

  Walking back to get the bags and clean out the car, Kurt looked around. He had only been living there a couple days, but he already felt like it was home. Maybe the feeling was because of the work he put in over the st year, but he felt like it was something else. He couldn’t pin it down but just savored the moment.

  He was rather fond of the house. It was a half log style with smooth faces on the inside. Roof was a deep green color to contrast the dark red-brown of the log. A deep porch wrapped around the north and east sides, leaving the other two with open views for the windows.

  When Kurt had ordered the kit, he had a company come in and put in a basement, poured concrete to act as the foundation to set it on. It was a little more work but not as much as all the enchantments he had id on the logs and windows. The house looked sturdy and with a little extra magic, it was.

  Off to the side of the driveway was a rge, detached garage that he had put up. That also had a sb poured for it, but it was much less complicated since it was just a ft bit of reinforced concrete. The south side of the garage and house roofs held all the sor panels, and the garage had the battery banks. An underground conduit ran between the buildings , connecting the two breaker boxes that were his next goal after cleaning out the car.

  He put the trash into the bag it came from, pnning to burn the paper wrappers and tossed it into the burn can on the porch. Then he grabbed his new briefcase along with the bags that his new guest had left behind before locking it and heading inside.

  When Kurt opened the door, he saw Val had finished her business and was now poking around in the kitchen. She noticed him open the door and looked over. “Not much going on in here.” She said, commenting on the empty and unpowered fridge. She had reverted back to the more foxlike form that he first met her in, ears and tail out.

  Kurt smirked and flicked the light switch on and off. “I said I needed to hook up the power still. Did you forget already?”

  Her ears flicked back, and her tail drooped as she looked away. “Ah, right. I forgot. Need any help?”

  “Have you ever done any electrical work?”

  “No.” She answered.

  “Well, then you can watch if you want but it might be a little cramped.” He began walking off down the hall. “I will show you your room. If you can help me move the boxes into a corner, we can move on to dealing with the breaker box.”

  She followed him down the hall, past the guest bath and to the bedrooms. They were across from each other at the end of the hall with a door between them. Walking in to one, Kurt set the bags down and moved to start stacking boxes on the far wall.

  The room was rge, at least 20 feet on the long side and 15 on another. One wall was taken up by a closet while 2 others had decent sized windows. The interior wall was bnk, for obvious reasons.

  “Holy crap.” Val said as she walked in. “This is my room?”

  “Uh, yeah.” Kurt said, grunting as he lifted a particurly heavy box to stack on another crate. “Mine is the same across the hall. Bathroom in the middle.” He set the box down and looked back to her. “You gonna help?”

  “Oh, yeah, sorry.” She said and scampered over to begin stacking boxes on the empty wall. In a couple minutes, they had everything packed away. “Strange pce to put the bathroom. I would think there was a lot of noise via the walls.”

  “Nope, there is a gap. The base board is a 2 by 6 and the studs are 2 by 4 so there is a 2-inch gap, sound doesn’t carry between that and the insution. It’s the same for the other walls too so you don’t hear the dishwasher or undry.” He didn’t mention that he had also pced enchantments on the walls and door to prevent unwanted noise.

  “Well, that was smart.” She said.

  Kurt walked down the hall to the undry room where the breaker box was. “It was some of the advice I got from an old timer I talked to when ordering the house. I had to modify the pns a bit, but it works.”

  “And the open rafter ceilings?” Val asked, looking into the living room and kitchen area.

  “That was personal taste.” Kurt said with a chuckle as he put on a head mp and opened the door of the electrical panel. “That’s why the walls are all drywall inside. It’s a nice clean surface that’s easy to paint and work with. Also, I was told you go crazy looking at wood panel every day.”

  “I would think it makes you want to stay outside.” Val agreed as she looked over his shoulder.

  “Not really an option in a couple months.” Kurt remarked off handedly as he began to sort the wires coming through the exterior wall.

  “I’m not sure I follow.”

  “Northern Michigan is beautiful, but winter can be… intense. You will actually see a lot of snowmobile trails on the side of the roads because of all the snow we get.” He began to strip the ends of the wires and prep them to insert into their terminals.

  “Oh, I love snow! My mom’s vilge got snow once when we were there. It was so pretty, and I loved making little snow sculptures.”

  Chuckling at the mental image of the little kitsune running around in the snow, he had to burst her bubble. “You might have a different opinion when its 10 below and there is a 20 mile per hour ‘breeze’.”

  “Umm. I don’t really know then. I haven’t been anywhere that had an actual winter.” She admitted. “How is autumn around here?”

  “Nice for a while but gets very cold by the end of October. Also, we get some pretty serious wind off the ke and the ke effect snow can really put a damper on things. Ah, there we go.”

  Kurt finished the st of the connections and stepped back to look at everything. He then tugged at each connection to make sure it was secured and the coatings on the wire were covering where they should. He then walked out to the garage to turn on the main.

  “So, you have sor for electricity, what happens at night?” Val asked, looking around the property a little more now that nature wasn’t calling. “I can’t imagine it’s the most efficient source.”

  Unlocking the door and rolling up one of the bay doors for light, Kurt pointed at the back corner and the shelves built low along the wall. “I am running a pretty big battery bank. The sor all charges the battery and power is run from there. I will probably get a few wind gens at some point but only if I start using a boat load of power. Anyway, this is pretty much all that I need since everything except the grill runs on electric.”

  He walked over to another breaker box and flipped a very rge toggle. Kurt then looked out the door toward the house, catching the porch light come on as he did. He smiled, very satisfied with himself. It always felt good to complete a project.

  “Sor and wind energy? Are you some sort of hippie?” Val teased.

  “Nope, just practical.” Kurt said with a grin. “Now I don’t have to pay for propane or electric and since we have a well, water isn’t a problem either.”

  Val nodded as she looked at the rest of the garage. She saw the closest bay was empty, likely for his car, but the others had some tools and equipment in them. In the middle bay was an open top trailer that had definitely seen some use, judging by the mud that covered it. There was also a small wood stove in the corner near the work area. “You got a pretty nice pce here.” She said, watching as he went to the refrigerator in the corner and started pulling out food.

  “Yeah, that was the idea. I guess it’s going to be a little more exciting now.” He said with a wry chuckle. “Hey, can you grab a bag or two to take inside? Better to stock the fridge in the kitchen now.”

  She shrugged and loaded up with a few grocery bags, following him back inside. He checked that the fridge was running before he loaded the food in and set the temperature. After that he pointed out a few other things in the house.

  “Well, you obviously have seen the kitchen and bedrooms. This is the living room and dining will go over there when I get around to buying a table.” He pointed to the open area on the other side of a couch. “And besides the bathroom at the end of the hall, you have pretty much seen everything up here.”

  Kurt then walked over to the far wall and opened a door that was against it. “Down here is basement, you can come check this out if you want.” He then clicked on the light and smiled at the strip of LED before headed down.

  Val followed out of an abundance of curiosity. The stairs were like the next chapter in a mystery book, calling for her to see what was next. She poked her head in and saw that the stair well went straight down, no nding but she couldn’t see beyond the open railing on the side. Smiling, she practically skipped her way down.

  The basement was a rge open space, a section behind the stairs was walled off with a couple doors in it but the rest was wood floor and drywall. The ceiling was taller than expected, being around 9 feet tall but finished rather than open rafter.

  At the far end was a door that led somewhere but the rest was pretty much open space. It would be completely open if not for a small wood stove in one corner near the door and the few boxes that were on the floor.

  Humming as she looked around, Val felt the need to comment on the space. “Lots of potential. What are you thinking of putting down here?” She was headed to the wall dividing the basement. “What is behind those doors?”

  “I am thinking some couches and a TV making this a media room.” Kurt said. “The door on the left is set for a guest suite, but it’s not finished yet. The one on the right has my…uh…equipment? tools? Ah, just look for yourself.”

  Val opened the first door and saw a rather rge empty space that would likely do just fine for a bedroom and bathroom. In the far corner was what looked like some mechanical things. She then went to the other door and opened it, noticing its weight and the addition of a deadbolt above the doorknob.

  She opened the door and stepped into the retively rge room. Val had seen arms rooms in the past, having done weapons training with the order, but none were organized quite like this one.

  On the far wall was a long work bench with a couple stools and cabinets underneath. The wall behind it was covered in a series of sts that allowed bins and boxes to be attached. The bench appeared to be divided into 2 work areas. One side had a vice, illuminated magnifying lenses and small hand tools. The opposite side had a reloading press attached via a built-in cmp to hold the machine.

  The exterior wall had a series of lockers built into the walls, each with its own locks on the doors. The one farthest from the bench was a completely solid door with a hazard sticker on it while the others had a few vent holes at the top and bottom. There were what looked like drawers on the bottom that matched the metal lockers in look.

  The wall with the door had several tall cabinets pushed against it and presumably bolted in pce given the ck of a gap behind them. Each one was also individually locked but stacked above were several gun cases of various sizes.

  The final wall had a series of open shelves that seemed to have a whole variety of soft goods. There were a couple different patterns of camoufge, but most was a typical multi-cam. The st shelf held a series of chargers with batteries on them and a few small bins sorting non rechargeable batteries and other items.

  “This is, um, quite the set up.” Val said after stepping in and walking around. “Gotta ask. Why?”

  Not seeing any reason to beat around the bush, Kurt answered honestly. “Mostly because I wanted to but it’s also a little bit of a hobby.”

  Giving him a ft look, Val pressed him a bit. “This might be more than a hobby. Besides, what’s the point of so many guns?”

  “Different uses.” Kurt said with a shrug. “Also, it’s not just guns.” He then walked over and opened one of the drawers in the work bench. Inside was a variety of small tools that ranged from hammers and chisels to electric tools. “It’s also where I do some enchanting.”

  Val looked into the drawer, taking in the variety of different files, engraving tools, small hammers and a couple torches. She also saw some wood carving implements neatly id out. She was intensely curious about the enchanting but also wanted to know more about everything else. After debating with herself, she asked about the enchanting.

  “What do you enchant? Or should I ask, what can you enchant?”

  Walking over to the closest locker, Kurt opened it and pulled out one of 3 sealed metal boxes. He then pricked his thumb on a needle sticking out of the lid and waited. After a moment, a shimmer passed over the box and he opened the lid.

  Inside was a book. Val was slightly perturbed seeing a book rather than some enchanted item but quickly got over the feeling as he pulled it out and opened the cover. The book wasn’t a book at all but a type of binder that looked like a book rather than cheap office equipment. As he flicked through the pages, she saw intricate drawings with notes on the bottoms of the pages.

  “This is my enchanters grimoire. I have another for spell casting and one for talismans but that’s for ter. This is what I can enchant or have worked on to some degree.” He slid the book over to be in front of her.

  Val’s tail swayed happily as she bent over to look at the pages. The first was a table of contents that was, to her surprise, typed. It outlined the categories of each enchantment such as concealment, offensive, enhancement, ‘quality of life’ and many others.

  She flipped to one of the enhancement pages titled ‘hardness’. Trying desperately to keep her mind out of the gutter, she studied the page. At the top was a runic circle like she had seen before on many occasions. The curious thing was that right next to it was more drawings with many notes and reference numbers with arrows pointing to it.

  The second drawing looked like someone had taken the runic circle and unwound it. The new shape was several lines of runes and shapes, nestled into a much slimmer footprint. The third drawing was the of an even slimmer shape with a single line of runes running the length.

  “What am I looking at?” She asked, her curiosity fully peaked.

  Kurt got out a stylus and pointed to the first drawing. “This is the basic runic circle for the ‘hardness’ enchantment. It has some variation depending on how much you actually want to invest in the enchantment but that is just adding the amplifying yers of the rune circle.”

  He then pointed to the second one. “Because some enchantments are sensitive about size, you are somewhat limited to how small you can make them, assuming you can even carve or iny into a smaller area of the material.” He pointed at a wood block and a scrap of metal as example. “So, I figured out a way to change the shape of the overall design.”

  “Wait, you figured this out? Like by yourself?” She asked, tearing her eyes away from the pointing stylus to look him in the face. She found him much closer than she thought but didn’t mind getting a little more familiar with him. “Do any other enchanters know about this?”

  “Not sure. My original instructor didn’t tell me about it, and I never saw any evidence of him doing them. But, yes, I figured this out on my own.” He cleared his throat. “Ah let’s just say that it’s a good thing Lycans are durable. It was not a safe and easy process.”

  Kurt then gave a little more detail on his fvor of enchanting. Val followed along, hanging off every word as he shared some of the process that he developed and used. She began to notice him slouching a little and yawning more frequently. She looked at her phone, seeing it was only 9pm and was wondering why he was so tired but then remembered his ‘meeting’ with Jay.

  “Hey, not to cut you off but did Jay give you an injection?” Seeing him nod and point to his neck, she pressed on. “You should probably get to bed. When I got mine, it took several hours but the side effect was exhaustion.” She stood up and reached for the box to put the book away, but he snapped out and grabbed her hand.

  Seeing the surprised look on Val’s face, Kurt hurried to expin. “The box is sort of genetically coded to me. Probably best you don’t touch the inside or something might happen. Not sure what but it could be very bad.”

  “Booby trapped box. Got it.” Val quickly pulled her hand away before raising an eyebrow at him. “Any other ‘surprises’ I need to worry about?”

  “Um, yes?” Kurt looked part way between embarrassed and thoughtful while he put the grimoire away. “But not that you need to worry about tonight. Just don’t force your way into anything that is locked.” After closing the locker, he stumbled and caught himself on the bench.

  Chuckling, Val held out her hand. “Come on, let’s get you upstairs and into bed.” As she got up close to support him, she got a nose full of his scent. She had to admit, it was rapidly growing on her.